March 3 TEXAS: East Texans Disagree On Death Penalty Decision In 2002, the Supreme Court decided juries could no longer sentence mentally retarded criminals to die. Tuesday, the court ruled anyone who commits a crime while under age 18 should also avoid the death penalty. Supporters of that decision say it's just another step to protect people who aren't fully aware of their actions. Steve Spencer of Angelina County Juvenile Services said, "I think that there's a maturity level that's achieved between 17 and 18 years old. It's a developmental milestone that everybody goes through and I think it's a good ruling, a very good ruling." The ruling means juries can no longer consider the circumstances of the case for sentencing and prosecutors can no longer use the death penalty as a negotiation tool. District Attorney Clyde Herrington said, "Sometimes a defendant will plead to a life sentence. If the death penalty threat's not there, they have no incentive whatsoever to plead; so at least in the age group that's affected, it'll increase the number of those cases that go to trial." Even before Tuesday, anyone 17 and under in Texas could not get the death penalty, even for the most vicious crime. Tuesday's ruling extends that window another year. The decision means 28 people who committed their crimes in Texas before their 18th birthday are no longer on death row. (source: KTRE News) WYOMING----new execution date: Judge sets Harlow execution for end of month A judge has set March 31 as the execution date for a twice-convicted murderer on Wyoming's death row. District Judge Wade Waldrip set the date after the state Supreme Court last month rejected James Martin Harlow's appeal that he did not get a fair trial because he was shackled in the courtroom -- the 2nd time in as many years the court had rejected an appeal from Harlow. Harlow has been an inmate at the Wyoming State Penitentiary since 1988, when he was given a life sentence for the rape and murder of 16-year-old Tammy Shoopman, of Rock Springs. In 1997, Harlow and 2 other inmates, Bryan Collins and Richard Dowdell, killed prison guard Wayne Martinez while trying to escape. Harlow was sentenced to death; Collins and Dowdell were given life sentences. Attorneys for Harlow have said they would appeal through the federal court system. (source: Associated Press) CONNECTICUT: Death penalty opponents gaining ground The uphill fight to repeal Connecticut's death penalty gained some momentum Wednesday with new support from minority lawmakers and predictions that a repeal bill will survive a key committee vote next week. 2 strong repeal advocates, state Reps. William R. Dyson, D-New Haven, and Michael P. Lawlor, D-East Haven, said they now believe there will be enough votes to get an anti-death penalty bill through the legislature's Judiciary Committee. Lawlor is co-chairman of the panel. Lawlor and Dyson, a member of the legislature's Black & Puerto Rican Caucus who announced that group's support for repeal, said they believe sentiment may be shifting in Connecticut and nationally against the death penalty. "I still don't think the votes are there in both (House and Senate) to repeal it, let alone override a veto," Lawlor warned. "But you never know." Gov. M. Jodi Rell has refused to grant convicted serial Michael Ross a reprieve from his death sentence and has warned she would veto any repeal bill passed by the General Assembly. Ross' execution was originally set for Jan. 26 but has been repeatedly postponed because of legal issues. He is now tentatively scheduled to die by lethal injection on May 11. Even lawmakers who strongly support the death penalty have expressed mounting frustration about the apparently endless legal delays in the case. The U.S. Supreme Court this week ruled that executing people under the age of 18 is unconstitutional, noting in its decision that the United States was the only nation in the world that still sanctioned the execution of minors. Connecticut does not allow the execution of minors. Dyson and several other members of the Black & Puerto Rican Caucus said their group opposes the death penalty because of moral, constitutional and ethical issues. "It's been demonstrated across the country that we have had people on death row who were not guilty," Dyson said. State Rep. Juan Candelaria, D-New Haven, said one issue for the caucus was the racial "disparities of the people sent to death row." The ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, state Rep. Robert Farr of West Hartford, said he agrees that the panel will most likely vote out a repeal bill next week. "I don't think that's the real issue," Farr said. "The issue is whether there are the votes in the state House of Representatives." Farr said he supports applying the death penalty in only the most extreme cases, such as terrorism or a convicted murderer who kills again. Farr said he is uncertain whether there has been any significant shift in momentum in favor of repeal. "I think there's a sense of public frustration about Michael Ross," he said. "That turned out to be something of a circus." A strong advocate of the death penalty, state House Speaker James A. Amann, D-Milford, said he and other top House leaders "haven't really had a good indication" about a repeal bill's chances of passage. Amann has already promised the House would debate the death penalty. (source: New Haven Register) OHIO: State challenges stay of execution in '87 slaying The state asked a federal appeals court on Wednesday to lift a stay of execution and allow the death by injection next week of a man convicted of the 1987 rape, robbery and murder of a Cincinnati woman. A federal judge erred on Monday when he granted the stay to allow time for investigation of William H. Smith's claim that he has a brain abnormality that could have affected his behavior at the time of the crime, lawyers for Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro argued. Smith has failed to introduce any evidence that warrants postponing his scheduled execution on Tuesday for the slaying of Mary Bradford, Ohio's lawyers argued. (source: Associated Press)
